Donald Trump’s former fixer, Micheal Cohen, is back in the news.
Cohen was put in the witness chair to lend credence to the fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James against Trump.
Cohen, as expected, testified that he regularly ballooned the value of Trump’s assets at the request of the former president.
He Made Me Do It
This, as far as I know, is the first time that Trump and Cohen have been in the same room together since the falling out.
Cohen walked right past Trump, then turned back for a quick glance before taking his seat on the witness stand.
He testified, “My responsibility, along with Allen Weisselberg, predominantly, was to reverse engineer the various different asset classes — increase those assets — in order to achieve the number that Trump had tasked us with.”
Prosecutor Collen Faherty then asked, “When you say number, what number are you talking about?”
Cohen responded, “Whichever Mr. Trump told us.”
Trump was visibly agitated during the testimony, making noises and gestures throughout, including mouthing the word “no” to his attorney when Cohen made the claim about overvaluing his assets.
Some of the assets Cohen claimed he ballooned for Trump included Trump Park Avenue, The Trump World Tower at United Nations Plaza, 100 Central Park South, Seven Springs, and Miss Universe pageants.
Trump had been hammering Cohen for days leading up to the trial, telling the media, “He’s a liar trying to get a better deal for himself, but it’s not going to work.
“This case, by any other judge, this case would have been over a long time ago. We did nothing wrong.”
Trump attorney Alina Habba cross-examined Cohen, concentrating on false testimony that Cohen had given prior, asking, “You committed perjury in that proceeding, didn’t you? Did you lie to Judge [William] Pauley when you said that you’re guilty?”
Cohen simply responded, “Yes.”
Again, though, the problem here for Trump is that there is no jury to convince, only Judge Engoron, who, by all accounts, has already made up his mind.
